The Dark Side of Los Angeles: Dafne Balatsos’s Studded and Spiked Purses

How Dafne Balatsos, designer of these deliciously gothic bags that carry a distinct whiff of danger, came to live in Los Angeles makes for a pretty straightforward story. The Bay Area native had studied fashion at Parsons in New York and Paris before moving to L.A. because of the lure of Hollywood—plus, as she says, “I wasn’t really typical Seventh Avenue material.” Yet it’s why she stayed that provides the compelling part of the narrative. “Well, it’s not the obvious things about Los Angeles that made me stay,” she says, laughing. “There are so many dark corners in this city.” Balatsos spends a lot of her time with artists, especially when she, her husband, and two-year-old son, August, head off to the high desert. “There are all these different layers of humanity there—locals, the military, and people making art. It’s a place that’s wicked, and dark, and humorous.”

Of course, all the most interesting designers to emerge from the West Coast this past decade haven’t exactly conformed to the casual, sunny, not to say silicone-perfect, clichés of L.A. Balatsos is part of the group—Rick Owens, and more recently, Rodarte—who seem happier creating in the shadows cast by the California sun. Balatsos, incidentally, spent twelve very happy years working with Owens, who she met through mutual friend Arianne Phillips. When she had her son, she stopped working for him, yet still wanted to channel her creativity into a manageable project. Which is where the bags come in. Balatsos reworks used canvas army backpacks, including the straps and leather trimmings, which she sources locally, and then gets to work with the spikes and the studs. Each one is hand made, and they’re sold at Church (7277 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles; 323/876-8887) starting at around $800. They’re uncompromising, to be sure, but they do possess a decidedly wicked beauty.